Leveling beam for horizontal chamber ovens producing gas and coke



March 11, 1941. KOPPERS 2,234,827

LEVELING BEAM FOR HORIZONTAL CHAMBER OVENS PRODUCING GAS AND COKE Filed Sept. 27, 19:59 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 H \N R i l lhfw rw H. KOPPERS March 11, 1941.

LEVELING BEAM FOR HORIZONTAL CHAMBER OVENS PRODUCING GAS AND COKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 0 2 M 5 1| A 7 W 0 0 4 2 W I O .l 7 5 U M/ 6 7 6 w M. 2 I r 7 hllwm 2 4 27/ .lHriuv/zv m 7 "I /A ///N@ H 0 1+ 2 Mm W Patented Mar. 11, 1941 UNITED STATES PATEN OFFICE LEVELING BEAM? FOR HORIZONTAL CHABL BER OVENS PRODUCING GAS AND COKE App ieation September 2'7, 1939, Serial No. 296,783 In Germany October 3, 1988 7 Claims.

The invention relates to leveling beams for horizontal chamberovens producing gas and coke and in particular to leveling beams for those horizontal chamber ovens for which, in the upper part of the coking chambers; there are provided oppositely disposed longitudinal projections on the chamber walls on which is supported the front part of the leveling beam.

lhe freshly charged coal when filled through the charging holes, arranged in the oven roof, of horizontal chamber ovens produces conical elevations in the chamber reaching up into the top of the chamber and up to the charging holes in the oven roof respectively. The upper part of the oven chamber must, however, be free throughout the whole length of the chamber-during the carbonization process, leaving the so-calledgas collecting space which is in connection with the ascension pipe, for leading off the distillation gases which escape from the coal charge. In

order to be able to obtain this horizontal gas collecting space, the so-called leveling beam is introduced into the oven chambers through an opening in one of the doorsclosing the oven chamber; The reciprocating movement of the leveling. beam eliminates the formation of the troublesome elevations in the freshly charged coal, thus avoiding blocking up of the gas collecting space. The leveling beam must have at least the same length as the coking chamber and as the oven chamber is of a considerable length, the leveling beam easily sags due to the influence of the heat which exists in the oven chambers and the dead weight of the beam. It is clear that if the horizontal leveling beam is not exactly horizontal the oven charge will not be uniformly leveled thus causing certain undesired compressions of the coal charge, at those points where the leveling beam bends, by pressing too much upon the charge.

In order'to avoid the undesired sagging of the leveling beam, it has already been suggested to provide longitudinal projections or grooves in the upper part of the chamber walls in which or upon which the front part of the leveling beam is supported and guided.

Since the walls of the horizontal coke ovens are built up of individual refractory bricks, they show in most cases irregularities to quite a considerable extent. Even ifthe various bricks are carefully laid, the surfaces of the grooves or of the projections upon which the leveling beam rests, do not remain exactly in line. When the oven has been in operation for some time, the irregularities mentioned are mostly increased as the brickwork expands and moves due to the heating-up of the oven to the Working temperature.

The uneven surfacesin the longitudinal grooves or inthe projections of the chamber walls, are often a considerable hindrance-to the moving of the leveling beam. The front part of the leveling beam and the guide lugs or rollers fitted to same will push against a projecting brick of the chamber walls or into a somewhat widened joint, so that it is impossible for the leveling beam to move on. Such arresting of the leveling beam can be observed especially if deposits of coal or graphite have been formed in the grooves or upon the projections' of the chamber walls. Due to these deposits the end of the leveling beam is turned aside and is so rigidly pushed against the brickwork that the leveling beam will be clamped inthe joints or grip into the recess of the brickwork.

It is already known to provide the leveling beam end, which is to be supported on the longitudinal projections of the oven chamber, with two sledge runners extending on both sides beyond the leveling beam, said runners being fixed to the beam for yielding transversally of the direction of movement-of the leveling beam in an elastic way. Such an arrangement prevents the end of the leveling beam resting on the longitudinal projections from sticking to the projections of the brickwork. The spring-like elastic sledge runners at the end of the leveling beam give way to any resistance the runners being pushed together towards the axis of the oven chamber.

The present invention has for its object to develop a leveling beam so that the useful height of'the oven chamber is considerably reduced.

The main feature of my invention is to embody both longitudinal legs of the leveling beam in an elastic manner, and provide sledge runners resting upon the longitudinal projections of the chamber walls in such manner that they are disposed at several points along the whole length of the leveling beam, and connect said sledge runnersto the side bars or legs of the beam between two adjacent'or successive cross webs connecting the. longitudinal legs with one another. The above described arrangement of several supporting runners. in connection with the leveling beam ofiers the advantage that the beam itself now may be of a small useful height thus obtaining not only a considerable saving in material as regards the leveling beam itself but also a better utilization of the space volume in the coking chamber for containing more coking coal. it is possible to reduce the number of oven chambers based upon a given coking capacity. Since the height of the leveling beam also determines the height of the gas collecting space it is possible when adopting leveling beams of a small height to fill the oven chambers with coal up to a higher level than heretofore possible with prior leveling beams and accordingly to carbonize more coal in the oven chamber in each coking period without having to increase the chamber height.

A leveling beam according to my present in- Thus vention further enables the alternative establishment of gas collecting spaces of the smallest height desired and thus of a minimum cross section, as well as also of a larger cross section, which depends upon the fact of whether it is wanted to withdraw the distillation gases quickly or slowly. For this reason the leveling beam may be arranged adjustably in height or in order to obtain a gas collecting space of larger cross section it is also possible to provide exchangeable extensions underneath the leveling beam.

Furthermore my invention consists in havin the cross webs between the longitudinal legs of the leveling beam terminate at a certain distance from the upper line of the longitudinal leg. A free space is thus formed between the longitudinal legs and the cross webs and the tops of the ovens into which the coal accumulating during the reciprocating movement of the leveling beam may escape without rendering difficult the movement of the leveling beam.

Still further objects and features of my present invention may be taken from the following description of a preferred embodiment of my invention on the lines of the accompanying drawings.

Fig. l is a vertical cross section through the upper part of a coke oven battery with a leveling beam introduced into the oven chamber, the section being taken partly through the oven chamber and partly through the heating flues.

Fig. 2 shows a vertical section on line II--II of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through an oven chamber on the line III-III of Fig. 1 with a top view upon the leveling beam carried out according to the present invention.

4 shows in an enlarged scale the upper part of the oven chamber in accordance with Fig. 2.

Fig.*5 finally illustrates in vertical section as per Fig. 4 another embodiment of the leveling.

beam carried out according to the present invention.

The oven battery comprises a series of horizontal oven chambers ll] arranged side by side. The oven chambers ID are formed by vertical walls H, the bottom l2 and the roof I 3. During the carbonization process the oven chambers are closed at the sides by doors Ma. Charging holes I are provided in the oven roof I3. The coal to be carbonized is filled into the coking chamber through said charging holes. Furthermore an outlet 15 is disposed at one end of the coking chamber H1 in the oven roof l3 for the discharge of the distillation gases developed during the coking process. The distillation gases are led-off through an ascension pipe 28 connected with said outlet, for further treatment.

In succession with the oven chambers ID, the heating walls It are situated between them, said heating walls serving to heat the oven chambers. The heating walls consist of a series of heating flues formed by longitudinal walls H and vertical walls 3 extending transversally to the oven chambers. The heating of the oven chambers is done by introducing the heating media at the bottom of the heating fiues. Fuel gas is for instance delivered through the vertical channels I9 and air is introduced through the channels 20. Two heating fiues each cooperate in alternation for heating, i, e., the heating media delivered through channels I9, 20 are burnt in one of the two heating fiues I! which are interconnected through an upper opening 2| while the combustion gases pass downwards in the other heating ilue and. are drawn :01? through the bottom opening 20 or both the openings The heating media are preheated in the well known manner in regenerators previously traversed by the waste heat gases. For simpli-citys sake these regenerators are not illustrated on the accompanying drawings.

One of the doors Ma closing th sides of the oven chamber is provided in the upper part with leveler opening 22 through which the leveling beam 23 is introduced into the oven chamber Ill. The leveling beam is fixed to the pushing machine, likewise not shown on the drawings, in such a manner that the reciprocating leveling movements may be performed.

The fresh coal filled through the charging holes M of the oven roof produces, as may be seen from Fig. 1, the so-called conical elevations reaching up into the charging holes. In order to enable a free passage of th distillation gases evolved during the carbonization process to the ascension pipe 23, which path is blocked up by said elevations, the latter elevations have to be done away with by means of the level ing beam 23. Thus a horizontal gas collecting space 29 is formed of a depth which coincides with the distance from the lower line A of the leveling beam up to the lower side of the oven roof I3.

The leveling beam 23 is formed by two upright longitudinal legs 3| manufactured out of an elastic material for instance steel plate. The longitudinal legs 3| are firmly connected with one another by several connecting cross webs 32 which are spaced from each other at such a distance that after the introduction of the leveling beam into the coking chamber one web 32 each lies underneath each charging hole H (see Fig. 3).

At each side of the leveling beam 23 there is provided one pair of sledge runners 24 which are fastened to the longitudinal legs 3| by means of welding or in another suitable way. If the leveling beam is moved into the chamber In (Fig. 4) the sledge runners 24 rest upon the longitudinal projections 26 of the chamber walls and they support the beam in such a way that it is impossible for it to sag even though the height of the longitudinal leg 3| is considerably less than that of the heretofore used usual leveling beams, which are not so supported.

The sledge runners 24 are each disposed on the longitudinal legs 3| approximately in the middle region between two adjacent or successive Webs 32. As the longitudinal legs 3| are manufactured out of a resilient material they give way to the inside if the runners are rammed in any way during the reciprocating movement of the leveling beam resulting for instance from uneven spots in the chamber wall (carbon deposition).

The webs 32 are preferably arranged in such a way that one web lies underneath each charging hole I4 when the leveling beam is fully introduced into the oven chamber. One cross web is therefore available for the coal elevation 34 in each charging hole so that when moving the leveling beam forward and backward, said elevations are leveled.

As shown in Fig. 4, the webs 32 extend only over a part of the height of the longitudinal leg 3|. Since the longitudinal legs 3| reach up to near the roof l3 of the oven chamber II), a free space 2'! is formed between the webs 32 and the chamber roof l3, the coal moved' forward and backward by the webs falling through the free space 27!. The coal is thus hindered from forming the accumulations between the top of the beam and the oven roof, which are very troublesome when introducing the leveling beam.

Instead of fixing the supporting runners to elastic longitudinal legs of the leveling beam, the connection may also be a resilient one in case the longitudinal legs are rigid by using for instance springs which press the runners to the outside and give way to the inside at a resistance of the chamber walls, as ilustrated in P. van Ackeren Patent 2,100,759.

As may be seen from the foregoing, the height of the leveling beam and consequently the height of the gas collecting space 29 may be less than with heretofore known leveling beams, so that it is possible to fill the oven chamber to a level higher up. In order to be able to introduce in certain cases a leveling beam constructed according to my present invention to form a collecting space of a greater height, the invention further provides the following improvements.

Referring to Fig. 5, to the cross webs 32 connecting the two longitudinal legs 3| of the leveling beam there are fixed, by means of screws til, elongated webs 35 which reach underneath the lower level A of the webs 32, thus limiting the top level for the upper side of the coal charge to such an extent that they correspond to the height of the desired gas collecting space.

I have now above described my present invention on the lines of a preferred embodiment thereof, but my invention is not limited in all its aspects to the mode of carrying it out as described and shown, since the invention may be variously embodied within the scope of the following claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A reciprocable leveling beam for horizontal chamber ovens or the like having longitudinal ledges in the upper part of the coking chambers, for supporting the leveling beam when pushed in the chamber, said leveling beam comprising: oppositely-spaced longitudinal side-bars, said sidebars being connected at spaced intervals therealong by cross-webs and being a depth substantially less than that required to sustain the beam in a horizontal plane when projected into an oven for leveling without supports therefor in the oven; a plurality of sledge-runners arranged at spaced intervals along each of the side-bars; said runners being adapted to run on the longitudinal ledges therefor in the upper region of the oven chamber walls and being spaced along the beams so as to thereby support the beam from sagging under heat during leveling reciprocation in the ovens in such manner that sidebars of less depth than that required for sustaining the beam in freely projecting leveling relation in the absence of such runners may be used.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, and in which the side-bars are constituted of elastic laterally flexible upstanding bars, and in which the runners comprise elements secured to the outer sides of the elastic side-bars at a region intermediate two successive cross bars for yielding of the side-bars and runners on too great resistance of obstructions on the ledges.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, and in which the cross-webs are disposed along the beam so as to have one underneath each charging hole in the oven chamber roof when the leveling beam is fully introduced into the oven chamber.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, and in which the cross-webs are disposed along the beam so as to have one underneath each charging hole in the oven chamber roof when the leveling beam is fully introduced into the oven chamber and in which the cross-webs extend upwardly between the side-bars for only a part of the height of the bars and terminate at a spaced distance from the upper line of the same leaving a free space between the webs and the oven chamber roof for jamming coal to ease off from between the two during leveling action.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, and in which the cross-webs are disposed along the beam so as to have one underneath each charging hole in the oven chamber roof when the leveling beam is fully introduced into the oven chamber, and the cross-webs extend upwardly between the side-bars for only a part of the height of the bars and terminate at a spaced distance from the upper line of the same leaving a free space between the webs and the oven chamber roof for jamming coal to ease off from between the two during leveling action and in which auxiliary webs are provided for interchangeable attachment to the cross-webs and in which the cross-webs and auxiliary webs are adapted for being detachably secured together in such manner that when attached the auxiliary webs terminate at a spaced distance below the normal lower leveling line of the beam, for optional use of the beam to produce gas collecting spaces of various depths by leveling oven. charges to different top levels by one and the same beam.

6. A reciprocating leveling beam for coke ovens, comprising a pair of spaced longitudinal laterally flexible side-bars, a series of connecting cross-webs set back from the upper edges of the side-bars and disposed thereon so as to have one underneath each of the oven roof charging holes when the beam is fully extended into the oven chamber, and sledge runners provided at plurality of places along each side of the beam for supporting the reciprocating beam from supports therefor on the oven walls, said runners being secured to the side-bars at a region between two successive cross-webs.

'7. A reciprocating leveling beam for coke ovens, comprising a pair of spaced longitudinal laterally flexible side-bars, a series of connecting cross-webs set back from the upper edges of the side-bars and disposed thereon so as to have one underneath each of the oven roof charging holes when the beam is fully extended into the oven chamber, and sledge runners provided at plurality of places along each side of the beam for supporting the reciprocating beam from supports therefor on the oven walls, said runners being secured to the side-bars at a region between two successive cross-webs; and removable auxiliary webs adapted for optional attachment to the cross-webs so as to project below the lower leveling edges of beam for altering at will the height to which a charge is to be leveled in an oven.

HEINRICH KOPPERS. 

